TURA, Oct 25: Strong winds in the wake of the Sitrang Cyclone, which hit the Northeastern parts of the country on Monday, also affected Tura in West Garo Hills, leaving behind a path of destruction, in the form of downed power lines and fallen trees.
The streets of Tura town were on Monday night littered with snapped power lines and fallen trees in many localities disrupting power and blocking traffic for a couple of hours. While fallen trees and other debris on the roads were cleared by Tuesday afternoon to allow normal movement of traffic, power which went out around mid-afternoon on Monday had not returned till the time of filing of this report.
While other districts were partially affected by the strong winds, West Garo Hills bore the brunt of the cyclone’s fury. The three national highways, which saw many trees falling on the roadside, were cleared by the PWD of the various districts allowing for normal travel to take place.
Most districts that were affected have partially restored electricity notwithstanding the town of Tura, where darkness has prevailed. Rectification of the situation may take a day or two, though no deadline could be given.
With the amount of damage that has been done to power lines, it is unlikely that the concerned department will be able to return power to the town any time soon. Snapped power lines continue to lie strewn all over the streets of the town as well as partially uprooted poles at several localities, which will prove a challenge for those in the Power department.
In the wake of network and electricity going kaput, reports of damages have been slow to come. However in some places around Tura, especially Sansanggre, many houses were completely destroyed. Residents who lost their homes have been seeking shelter in other places though no communication could be made with them due to the situation.
The matter of them being temporarily homeless was communicated to the Deputy Commissioner of WGH, Swapnil Tembe. He said efforts were on to make contact with them so that they could be put up in the temporary shelters set up by Tura Municipal Board. Earlier, the DC said that teams from the MeECL, PWD, Forest and Disaster Management were all on the job to restore power and road connectivity after the intense spell of winds and rains. Tembe added that assessment of damages is also being done by field staff and that the extent of damages would be made known after receipt of reports. Efforts nonetheless have been hampered by poor communication that has affected all including those making the assessments.
Early reports from the DC showed that the Tura Urban area, Rongram and the Gambegre C&RD Block were the worst affected. An initial assessment showed at least 10 localities in Tura, 12 in Gambegre and another six in the Rongram C&RD Block being affected.
The administration also informed that in these affected areas, there are 36 households in Tura with a population of 211, and 36 households with 193 people in Gambegre. No data on the numbers affected in Rongram were available. No deaths have been reported so far.
The numbers are expected to rise further once communication is brought back up, expectedly by Wednesday.
